Who says games can't be educational?

I suppose it all seems very serious sometimes - Scientists in white lab coats talking about gravity, trajectories and orbits. Where is the fun in that? It is pretty serious when you are hurtling millions of dollars into space and hoping to use the gravity of other planets to "slingshot" you to where you want to go as they did with the Gallileo and Cassini probes. Luckily someone has thought up a fun way of showing the theory behind it!

BigIdeaFUN.com has a game on their Penguins Arcade called Spaced Penguin! As it says on the web site - "Kevin took a wrong turn and ended up lost in space. Use the highly advanced GPS (Giant Penguin Slingshot) to launch him back to the ship! "

Have fun!

Sugar as a Crystal

As we discussed in class, sugar is a type of crystal, and as such we can grow them. Check out the following links ...

Grow Sugar Crystals - Make Your Own Rock Candy: Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose (table sugar) resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product.

This one from ChemShorts for Kids suggests another way of growing the crystal from sugar and how to make them into jewelry. Have a look at come of the others on this page and if they look interesting look at the list on their Home page.

This one from the Timbuktu Academy is a bit above your level, but have a look at the diagrams and and see how the molecules I showed you join together in "polymerization".

No, it's not juts a term from Yu Gi Oh!